Jazz Piano Sheet Music for Beginners

This article is a collaborative effort, crafted and edited by a team of dedicated professionals.

Contributors: Andranick Tanguiane, Fred Lerdahl,

Contents

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Introduction

Jazz piano is a beautiful and fun style of music to play, but it can be daunting for beginners. If you’re just getting started with jazz piano, you might be wondering where to begin.

Luckily, there’s no shortage of great resources out there to help you get started. In this article, we’ll share some of our favorite jazz piano sheet music for beginners, as well as provide some tips on how to learn and play jazz piano.

One great way to get started with learning jazz piano is by finding easy jazz piano sheet music. While some jazz pieces can be quite complex, there are also plenty of simpler tunes that are perfect for beginners. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of our top 10 favorite easy jazz piano sheet music for beginners:

1. “Ain’t Misbehavin'” by Fats Waller
2. “All of Me” by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons
3. “Autumn Leaves” by Joseph Kosma
4. “But Not for Me” by George Gershwin
5. “Fly Me to the Moon” by Bart Howard
6. “Georgia on My Mind” by Hoagy Carmichael
7. “How High the Moon” by Morgan Lewis and Nancy Hamilton
8. “I Got Rhythm” by George Gershwin
9. “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington
10.”Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel

Basic Jazz Chords

If you are a beginner jazz piano player, or someone who wants to learn to play jazz piano, you will need to know some basic jazz chords. These chords are the foundations of most jazz piano tunes. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most common jazz chords and how to play them.

Major 7th Chords

Major 7th chords are some of the most important chords in jazz music, and they’re also some of the easiest to learn. These chords are built by starting with a major triad (the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale), and then adding the 7th note of the scale.

For example, a C Major 7th chord would be made up of the notes C, E, G, and B. As you can see, these are all notes from the C major scale.

One of the best things about learning major 7th chords is that you can use them in both major and minor keys. In a minor key, these chords will often be played as 7th chords (i.e. with the 7th note of the scale), but they can also be played as 9th or 13th chords.

Here are some common fingerings for major 7th chords:

Cmaj7: X3 2 0 1 0
Gmaj7: 3 2 0 1 3
Emaj7: 0 2 2 1 0

Minor 7th Chords

Minor 7th chords are one of the most important types of chords in jazz piano. They are used in almost every type of jazz piano music, from standards to originals.

There are many different ways to play minor 7th chords, but the most basic way is to simply play the triad of the minor scale with an added 7th note. For example, in the key of C minor, this would be C-Eb-G-Bb.

You can also add other notes to create different voicing for the chord. For example, you could add the 9th (D) or 11th (F) to create a Cm9 or Cm11 chord. Or you could add the 13th (Ab) to create a Cm13 chord.

There are an endless number of possibilities when it comes tovoicing minor 7th chords. The important thing is to experiment and find voicings that you like.

Dominant 7th Chords

Dominant 7th chords are simply major chords with a flattened 7th note added. The 7th note of any major scale is a whole step below the octave. Therefore, the 7th note of the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) is Bb. When we add a Bb to a C major chord, we create a dominant 7th chord: C7.

We can form dominant 7th chords on any degree of the major scale by following this simple formula:

Major chord + flattened 7th = dominant 7th chord

So in the key of C, we would have the following dominant 7th chords:

C7 = C + Eb + G + Bb
D7 = D + F + A + C
E7 = E + G# + B + D
F7 = F + A + C + Eb
G7 = G + B + D + F
A7 = A + C#+ E + G
B7 = B + D#+ F#+ A

Jazz Piano Progressions

If you’re just getting started with jazz piano, you’re in for a treat. Jazz piano is a style of music that is built on improvisation and self-expression. It’s a fun and challenging style of music to learn, and it can be rewarding to play. In this section, we’ll go over some basic jazz piano progressions that you can use to start playing jazz piano.

12-Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues is one of the most important progressions in jazz. It has been used countless times in many different styles of music, and is a great way to get started improvising and playing jazz piano.

The 12-bar blues consists of twelve bars, or measures, each of which is four beats long. The basic progression uses the first, fourth, and fifth chords of a major scale. In the key of C, these chords would be C, F, and G. The progression starts on the I chord (C), then moves to the IV chord (F), then to the V chord (G), back to the I chord (C), then to the V chord (G), before finally resolving back to the I chord (C).

This basic progression can be further adorned with additional chords, such as ii-V progressions or turnarounds. But at its core, the 12-bar blues is a simple and effective way to start playing jazz piano.

Rhythm Changes

Rhythm Changes is a jazz standard that was originally written in 1930 by George Gershwin. The tune became popular in the 1940s when it was recorded by several different artists, including Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Rhythm Changes is a good song for beginners to learn because it uses a standard chord progression that you can find in many other songs. The chord progression is as follows:

I – VI – II – V – I (Dm7 – G7 – Cm7 – F7 – Bbmaj7)

Once you know this chord progression, you can play Rhythm Changes and hundreds of other songs!

ii-V-I

In jazz, the ii-V-I progression is a very common chord progression that you will see in many tunes. It’s important to learn how to play this because it will come up often.

The ii-V-I progression is made up of three chords: the ii, the V, and the I. In major keys, the ii chord is a minor chord, the V chord is a dominant chord, and the I chord is a major chord. In minor keys, the ii chord is a diminished chord, the V chord is a minor chord, and the I chord is a major chord.

Here are some examples of ii-V-I progressions in major keys:

ii: Dmin7
V: G7
I: Cmaj7

ii: Em7b5
V: A7b9#11
I: Dmaj7#11

Conclusion

In conclusion, jazz piano sheet music for beginners can be a great way to learn the basics of this wonderful style of music. There are many different types of jazz piano sheet music available, so it is important to find the right type for your needs. With a little bit of research, you should be able to find the perfect jazz piano sheet music for your playing level and needs.

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